A historical novel about the Jews in the Crimean War. For the first time in modern history, Jews are forcibly conscripted to serve in an army to fight a war for a nation that dispises, mistreats, and tries to convert them. They are trained by a Jew-hating sergeant and a Jewish corporal who has lost the love of his father and the faith in his God. With the help of the Jewish corporal the pious young Jews learn to survive in what for them is a hostile environment and become brave